Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
Ask us regular bus riders. We are the experts on what works best for us, not politicians and environmentalists who drive cars.
That seems pretty obvious, but oddly nobody asks me what works for me! So I am going to tell you, so you know.
I began riding with my mom as a child. I have been on all Portland and Vancouver transit options, including CVan, previous “centipede” buses, the Vine, and MAX.
So you cannot dispute that I know the systems, the good and the bad, the changes over time, and have no reason to hate or destroy public transit. It impacts me personally because I do not own a car.
While public transit has never been totally safe and clean – I know which seats are most likely to transfer urine onto me – I quit going to Portland by light rail after BLM, when I watched a drunk Haitian man, after pouring his wine all over, grab his passed out peers by the neck and throw them to the sidewalk at their stop by the homeless mission. On the way home, I observed another man light a glass pipe with drugs. I got off at the next stop and took the long way, by multiple buses.
TriMet never answered me when I asked why we didn’t have security anymore. I never rode Yellow line MAX again.
I avoid the Vine and MAX because when riders do not pay, since there are no security eyes on them, more people try to get away with doing things to paying passengers who just want to get around.
I will go out of my way to be safe – even if it costs more.
Replacing bus stops with Vine or light rail actually threatens the safety of riders who are elderly or disabled who need to get to work, court, church, or the hospital, because they remove a lot of stops. I was shocked a couple years ago that walking from the closest Vine stop on Mill Plain to DSHS required me to walk all the way to Walmart! There no longer is a stop heading downtown if you go to Fred Meyer and Trader Joe’s. This hurts a lot of people!
There used to be years when we had standing room only on the Fourth Plain and Mill Plain buses, bike racks full, wheelchair riders having to wait, three buses back to back, getting places late by 30 minutes, and squeezing past others to get off in time. But after BLM, ridership by paying locals decreased. Often I am the only one riding now. Can you see why?
Although our #71 Highway 99 bus isn’t full, the Powers That Be voted to rip up our stops in unincorporated Hazel Dell, outside of any city limits, and install Vine stops further apart.
If you asked me, I would say you are not helping me by replacing dependable diesel buses with the Vine or light rail.
A bus can avoid a protest, accident, and road ice. It can be flagged down when stalked by a predator, and let us off closer when it is dark. By replacing our bus with the Vine and lightrail, you are doing great harm.
If you really cared about us, you would vote for a 3rd bridge option and purchase more diesel buses – because they are more reliable!
If what you are voting for isn’t for helping riders like me, then who is this mess good for?
David Poland
Vancouver
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